Monday, October 22, 2012

Summary: Dying of a broken heart is just the beginning.... Welcome to forever.

BRIE'S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But
now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that
love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon
Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a
secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his
shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new
guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her
forever after.

With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass
through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how
do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

Review: I have been extremely excited to read The Catastrophic History of You and Me since I started seeing great reviews of it. I'm proud to say it did NOT disappoint! Patrick is definitely my favorite character. He was cute and cool, but not an in your face "perfect" guy.Brie was a good character too. She was innocent enough for you to like her, but malicious enough for you to dislike her too. What sealed my love for this book was that I read it as two separate books. One book was about death. Losing someone you love. Dealing with the stages of grief. Trying to move on from it. The second book was the book of heartbreak. Loving someone and them not loving you back. Trying to pick up the pieces of your heart after someone has smashed it. I wish I had this book when I was dealing with both of those issues. Easily, this is one of the most touching books I've read. I absolutely recommend it!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Summary: Three teens, three
stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships.
As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of
the teens begin to tilt….

Mikayla, almost eighteen, is
over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what
happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their
senior year—and decides to keep the baby?

Shane turns sixteen
that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex,
who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his
little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that
his life, too, will be shortened?

Harley is fourteen—a good girl
searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She
never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to
define who she is and who she wants to be.

Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.

Review: I've wanted Tilt out ever since I put down Triangles. I greatly enjoyed reliving some experiences through the eyes of Mik, Shane, and Harley. Honestly, I probably related more to Harley than any of the others. I almost got caught up in similar stuff that she dealt with. Shane and Mik were still sweet, flawed characters. Probably my favorite part of Tilt was getting to know Alex better. That was an absolute treat. He might be my favorite simply because he had the best attitude out of everyone. It was nice getting inside Bri's head too. I definitely approve of Ellen giving us that little bit of insight to each of these minor characters. Dylan's poems usually came after Mik's, Chad came after Harley, and Alex's usually came after Shane's (which makes sense because those were the consistent people the kids' lives), but it was nice getting a bit from characters like Bri, Tyler, and Kristy as well.
One thing that truly shows the skill Ellen Hopkins has with her writing is the little 1-page long poems from the perspective of secondary characters. She conveyed just as much emotion in these poems as she did with Mik, Shane, and Harley's multi-poem stories. I hope that makes sense. I think I would have liked Tilt more if I hadn't read Triangles because nothing in Tilt stunned me. There were a couple sad things that happened in Tilt that I don't think was in Triangles (it's been a while since I've read Triangles), but none if it was stuff that I didn't already see coming. That's gotta be my only complaint with Tilt. That being said, this was a fantastic book. I'm always delighted to see what Ellen has to give to us.

About Me

*waves* My name is Kim and I am a bookaholic. *pause* Okay yeah really I read a lot of books so I set this up to try to review as many as I can. I'll also do video games and movies if I'm bored and want to review something.